# action dependent on RHEL release **URL:** \ **Category:** Ansible Project\ **Tags:** rhel\ **Created:** [August 6, 2012, 12:46pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/action-dependent-on-rhel-release/11766 "2012-08-06T12:46:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Andreas\_Davour](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bcef8e/32.png) [@Andreas\_Davour](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Andreas_Davour)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2012, 12:46pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/action-dependent-on-rhel-release/11766/1 "2012-08-06T12:46:53Z")
Simply stated. Is there a shorter and more elegant way to do the following? -------\>8----------\>8------------------   - name: Fix the MX for rhel61     action: command postconf -e "relayhost=mx.gnuf.com"     only\_if: "'$ansible\_distribution\_version' == '6.1'"   - name: Fix the MX for rhel62     action: command postconf -e "relayhost=mx.gnuf.com"     only\_if: "'$ansible\_distribution\_version' == '6.2'"   - name: Fix the MX for rhel63     action: command postconf -e "relayhost=mx.gnuf.com"     only\_if: "'$ansible\_distribution\_version' == '6.3'"   - name: Fix the MX for rhel54     action: command sed -i 's/DS/DSmx.gnuf.com/' /etc/mail/sendmail.cf     only\_if: "'$ansible\_distribution\_version' == '5.4'"   - name: Fix the MX for rhel57     action: command sed -i 's/DS/DSmx.gnuf.com/' /etc/mail/sendmail.cf     only\_if: "'$ansible\_distribution\_version' == '5.7'" --------8\<-----------8\<------------------ /andreas ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_DeHaan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@Michael\_DeHaan](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Michael_DeHaan)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2012, 12:48pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/action-dependent-on-rhel-release/11766/2 "2012-08-06T12:48:19Z")
There is not. -- Michael ---
**Author:** ![Andreas\_Davour](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bcef8e/32.png) [@Andreas\_Davour](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Andreas_Davour)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2012, 12:53pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/action-dependent-on-rhel-release/11766/3 "2012-08-06T12:53:27Z")
Thanks, Michael! If someone makes one up, let me know. /andreas ---
**Author:** ![Ernest0x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ed655f/32.png) [@Ernest0x](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Ernest0x)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2012, 1:02pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/action-dependent-on-rhel-release/11766/4 "2012-08-06T13:02:50Z")
Does only\_if take python expressions like "'$ansible\_distribution\_version' in ['6.1', '6.2', '6.3']" ? And if not, should it? ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_DeHaan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@Michael\_DeHaan](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Michael_DeHaan)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2012, 1:07pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/action-dependent-on-rhel-release/11766/5 "2012-08-06T13:07:20Z")
I'm suspecting it probably will not happen. While we could continue to introduce language primatives, I generally want the language to remain minimal. If we end up with ternaries and case statements, we're almost programming in YAML, and I explicitly did not want this to be a programming language. For instance, the best way to not run some tasks on a particular group is to not talk to that group of systems 🙂 --Michael ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_DeHaan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@Michael\_DeHaan](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Michael_DeHaan)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2012, 1:09pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/action-dependent-on-rhel-release/11766/6 "2012-08-06T13:09:05Z")
> > > /andreas > > Does only\_if take python expressions like > "'$ansible\_distribution\_version' in ['6.1', '6.2', '6.3']" ? > And if not, should it? This is covered in the docs under "Conditional Expressions" [http://ansible.github.com/playbooks2.html](http://ansible.github.com/playbooks2.html) "This is easy to do in Ansible, with the only\_if clause, which actually is a Python expression." ---
**Author:** ![Ernest0x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ed655f/32.png) [@Ernest0x](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Ernest0x)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2012, 1:29pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/action-dependent-on-rhel-release/11766/7 "2012-08-06T13:29:15Z")
Well, I personally find the 'in' syntax so expressive that it 'does not look much like coding' to me. On the other hand, I would agree that proper grouping of hosts is most of the time the best way to reduce repetitive statements. In all cases, it should be included in the documentation what kind of python expressions and operators are supported by the 'only\_if' option. ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_DeHaan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@Michael\_DeHaan](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Michael_DeHaan)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2012, 1:32pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/action-dependent-on-rhel-release/11766/8 "2012-08-06T13:32:46Z")
> In all cases, it should be included in the documentation what kind of > python expressions and operators are supported by the ‘only\_if’ option. Anything that evaluates to a boolean is fair game, though of course the computation is performed on the machine where ansible is installed. ---
**Author:** ![Andreas\_Davour](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bcef8e/32.png) [@Andreas\_Davour](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Andreas_Davour)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2012, 1:35pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/action-dependent-on-rhel-release/11766/9 "2012-08-06T13:35:42Z")
I'm not sure I get that, since I don't know what a valid pyton expression is. /andreas ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_DeHaan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@Michael\_DeHaan](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Michael_DeHaan)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2012, 1:59pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/action-dependent-on-rhel-release/11766/10 "2012-08-06T13:59:10Z")
> I’m not sure I get that, since I don’t know what a valid pyton > expression is. Anything that returns a value is essentially an expression. This means basically anything is fair game.